Tamiya and other R/C vehicles (not just for Christmas)

Anyone doing some Tamiya or other R/C stuff during the lockdown?

Yup, I have a Carisma SCA1E kit to build – have had it for a year or two. Somewhat fortuitously I spent a tenner or so on a bearing kit for it a few weeks ago… have several high turn motors and a few ESC’s to play around with too so should have some slow-speed, long battery life entertainment as and when.

i have a very modified Axial Bomber thats been shelved for the last year, can see it getting dug out & the garden dug up to allow me to play

can someone give me some battery charging advice?
I’ve just made a lockdown purchase of a couple of FTX Outback Mini 2.0 cars for some small garden fun, and ordered some spare batteries. They are 600mAh 1s LiPos. The kit comes with a USB charger but I wondered if there is a way of mains charging them, and if it’s worth it over USB. I’ve tried Googling it but it’s a minefield and most balance chargers seem to be for 2S and higher.
Any advice would be appreciated.

I’ve always wanted to race F1: cars.  Ideally with motor and tyre restrictions to even the field, but allow relatively free reign on body work and aero mods.

Some of the fantasy F1:liveries would look amazing!

I’m doing another Quattro.

Started today..

Shout for help – My sons Maverick Ion XT has stopped working. I charged up the battery for him, when switched on the receiver flashes 3 times but then nothing, doesn’t respond and doesn’t auto-trim which it used to (if thats the correct term- set the wheels in a straight line…).
Any ideas? I’ve checked the connections best I can and they seem fine? What would stop it working all of a sudden? Says he’s not crashed it.

Paint and stickers..

I have a few Tamiyas:
an original Fox
a CC01 Landfreeder, built up as general trail truck, essentially just bigger wheels
a Rising Fighter – This should be for my 6yo to drive, but he is not interested.

My oldest lad has a Lunchbox, and we have couple of MN D90s for trail bashing.

Now I’m locked in the house I am getting a hankering for a 4wd buggy. My 1980s school boy memories say “Hotshot”, but I am aware that this is flawed in many ways. What else should I look at , ideally sub £200?

I am quite tempted by an HG P407. EDIT! I am aware that this is not a buggy.

The p407 is apparently outstanding for the cash (especially compared to the Tamiya it’s compiled from) but the electronics are, allegedly, junk. That design is not the best crawler, but it’s a fun trail truck. Again, apparently – I don’t own one. I would love to, though 😉

From a retro buggy perspective, the Terra Scorcher is just about to be re-released. The Boomerang is also pretty good. Of more modern ones the TT01-B looks OK, but I’ve got no experience of that (I restored my brother’s old Terra Scorcher, and I used to on a Boomerang though 🙂 )

Mind you, the Hotshot is *the* iconic Tamiya buggy IMO – and tinkering to fix the issues (primarily the bump steer from what I remember)  is part of the fun 😀

Mind you, the Hotshot is *the* iconic Tamiya buggy IMO – and tinkering to fix the issues (primarily the bump steer from what I remember) is part of the fun

No way, it’s nothing like as iconic as the Grasshopper/Hornet, Lunchbox, Wild Willy, just to name a few.

Edit: suppose the last two aren’t buggies, of course…

I was making progress but with Covid I’m busier than ever so the Rally Bug is in a box at the moment – boo! I’ll use this as a spur to push in a step or two

Kyosho Tomahawk just arrived. 🙂

No way, it’s nothing like as iconic as the Grasshopper/Hornet

I did say “IMO”, you’ll note… I wasn’t presenting it as an indisputable fact.

I’d also happily make a case for the Sand Scorcher. And very possibly the Grasshopper. But none of your other suggestions. Soz.

IMO, natch. 😉

IMO, natch

I had a Rough Rider, same chassis as the Sand Scorcher IIRC. And surely more iconic 😀

(IMO!)

Apols for not crawling through the thread for this, but can someone recommend something;

1) That will run well on grass – so I guess a truck of some type rather then buggy
2) is a kit (half the fun is building)
3) not a crawler – does not have to be madly fast but at the speedy end of the scale rather than crawling
4) don’t mind spending a bit more up front to avoid having to upgrade things straight away

I have a 1/8 nitro buggy (Kyosho Inferno 7.5) that I haven’t fired up for a few years but am after something more suitable for the garden

DT-03? Comes with a couple of hop ups. CVD oils shocks and a Torque Tuned silver can.

Does a 2WD 1/10 Tamiya buggy not get bogged down a bit on grass that’s not super short? I thought they weren’t great on a lawn? I’m probably wrong as it must have been 1986 when I last saw one running!

How big is your garden? My 35 turn CC01 is fast enough for mine. There is no way the Fox or the Rising Fighter can reach or run at full speed in mine. No Massive though. I might start to build a trail/crawl course. Plenty of time…

In February we had the 2wd Buggies blasting around on the short grass at the carparking for the beach at St Andrews. Fantastic running surface.

Shout for help – My sons Maverick Ion XT has stopped working. I charged up the battery for him, when switched on the receiver flashes 3 times but then nothing,

My nephew has got a Maverick – 1/10 something. He had the same problem – we couldn’t get it working, so ended up just getting a £30 2 channel 2.4GHz controller with receiver from Amazon & that sorted it.

timmys

Does a 2WD 1/10 Tamiya buggy not get bogged down a bit on grass that’s not super short? I thought they weren’t great on a lawn? I’m probably wrong as it must have been 1986 when I last saw one running!

Yes, it does in all honesty. It’s not too bad depending on the length of the lawn obviously. But running my Neo Fighter around the garden, there is a noticeable slow-down as it transitions from the paving to the lawn.
They do a DT-03T version, which has basically got bigger wheels & a few other bits to facilitate these – I kinda wish I’d gone for one of those; the Aqroshot it’s called.

The madbull can do better on grass, sometimes. But if it’s longer than “overgrown lawn” it still struggles.

That said, there are many tamiya buggy issues that can be resolved with a cheap brushless kit

An excercise in patience and steady handyness.

I’d recommend a Tamiya self build kit to anyone.

The chassis and drivetrain anybody could do, the body is the tricky bit.

Today’s work stops at 5pm for a beer, only managed an hour. Let’s face it theres no rush..

I’ve got a fully original boxed, run say twice, Tamiya 1/12 RC Toyota Celica GRB Rally Special if anyones interested?

Good paint skills Merak.
Want one of these to build every time I look at this thread, but the painting puts me off. Anyone do kits with pre-painted shells?

So tempted by a Blitzer Beetle just for fun. Been spending more time on the Tamiya Club forum browsing through the numerous projects.

I had a Grasshopper back in the day followed by a Kyosho Optima Mid which I intended to race but never did.

Want one of these to build every time I look at this thread, but the painting puts me off. Anyone do kits with pre-painted shells?

When I built my Tamiya Madcap (like 30 years ago!) the bodyshell and rear wing were just solid blocks of colour, all the detail came from transfers. I can’t paint to save my life and it was a piece of wee-wee. I’d guess you don’t have to do all the clever paint jobs that Merak et all are coming up with?

Speaking of which,

Is there any value in my old Madcap? I dug it out a little while back, astonishingly it still runs though the shitty NiCads have a running time of about 2 minutes now. It’s all stock aside from replacement shocks as the standard ones were, erm, shocking.

In all honesty it was a bit crap when it was new – at full tilt it’s near impossible to steer, an issue I never really got to the bottom of. But it seems a shame just to chuck it out?

clubby

Want one of these to build every time I look at this thread, but the painting puts me off. Anyone do kits with pre-painted shells?

I’d never done one until I got my Neo Fighter.
I just chose two paints, cleaned the body thoroughly & masked it up using decorator’s frog tape.
I used a large cardboard box cut up & re-stuck together to make a ‘spray booth’ and pre-heated the paint in hot water for 5 mins or so.
The result was surprisingly good with several thin coats & I kinda wish I’d put a bit more effort in to do something fancier. A single block colour would be even easier.
If you do multiple colours do dark first, then light. If you do it the other way round, the dark can show through the lighter colours where it oversprays.

This was the result of my attempt:

DSCN8525_zpsu2hb6jtr by STW stumpy01[/url], on Flickr

Cougar

Speaking of which,

Is there any value in my old Madcap? I dug it out a little while back, astonishingly it still runs though the shitty NiCads have a running time of about 2 minutes now. It’s all stock aside from replacement shocks as the standard ones were, erm, shocking.

Has it got the mechanical speed controller, or an ESC?

You could get some new batteries for not a lot of cash & get it running in no time.

A colleague runs an RC shop & sorted me out with my Neo Fighter & bits to go with it.
I’ve got one of these batteries:

https://www.fusionhobbies.com/product/ep3000s-ep-7-2v-3000mah-ni-mh-battery-pack

and you can get 20 mins or so of runtime out of it, easily. That’s with an ESC.
If it’s running the old mechanical speed controller you could stick an ESC in it for not a lot of money.
Does it have bearings or plastic bushes? Upgrading to bearings is always worth doing.
I always thought the Madcap was one of their better looking cars.

Manual speed controller, so essentially three speeds in both directions. Standard (nylon?) bearings.

It looks great, but it handles like a whale, which is why I never spent any more money on it. I didn’t want to be randomly buying parts for it if I couldn’t get it to go round corners. Oddly, it’s surprisingly nimble going backwards.

New batteries = new charger also, yes?

Cougar, they’re still broadly collectible, and somewhat sought after, but you’re not sitting on a goldmine, if that’s what you mean. They’re loosely based on the Super Astute IIRC, which was recently rereleased so (some) spares are available – and what there isn’t you can most likely jury-rig.

Get some bearings for it, and give her a complete strip down. Tyres will be the main thing which will help your steering (well, obvs) – what surfaces are you running on, and with what tyres? The other main thing you can do to help it steer at full chat is to put some weight over the front – over the servo, or better yet, even further forward. You can also pick up an ESC for less than £20 these days which will be a huge improvement on your old manual one.

Oh, and new Nimh batteries (probably the cheapest and most sensible option to start with) will need a new charger, although new chargers can also charge old nicads in most cases.

Oh go on… what bundle for under £200 as I’m saving close to that a month on not buying diesel?

I want one that I can build rather than out of the box.

Cougar, they’re still broadly collectible, and somewhat sought after, but you’re not sitting on a goldmine, if that’s what you mean.

Yes and no. I mean, I wasn’t thinking I’d be tossing out a fortune. Just that there’s nowt wrong with it other than what I’ve already stated and, well, I’m a bit of a hoarder. I still have a Big Trak FFS.

They’re loosely based on the Super Astute IIRC,

Correct, yes. It’s the same chassis / running gear as far as I’m aware.

Get some bearings for it, and give her a complete strip down. Tyres will be the main thing which will help your steering (well, obvs) – what surfaces are you running on, and with what tyres? The other main thing you can do to help it steer at full chat is to put some weight over the front – over the servo, or better yet, even further forward. You can also pick up an ESC for less than £20 these days which will be a huge improvement on your old manual one.

I rather suspect that weight on the nose might be a big help. Dunno as it needs a teardown beyond maybe greasing the axle joints, I looked after it maintenance-wise back in the day and it ran fine (previous caveats aside) when I last dug it out.

They’re the stock tyres that came with it, albeit with the knobbly bits long worn away, running mostly on tarmac last time I used it.

But yeah, this was my problem back in the day as well. I could buy a new set of tyres, replacement shocks (which I did and thought would solve the issue), ESC, new battery and charger, bearings, maybe a modern receiver and remote rather than the old analogue crystal system… and then be in a position where I’ve outlaid the cost of a new car and still be in the same state. If I could guarantee a fix I might be more inclined to throw some money at it.

There’s nowt intrinsically wrong with it as a buggy as I recall – the Super Astute in particular was a top thing for its time. The teardown would be required to replace the bushings with bearings. And it’s fun! 🙂 Those tyres wouldn’t  work at all well on tarmac BTW. As you’ve found.

And if you bought all of these new things, the only thing you’d have bought that you couldn’t instantly transplant into something else would be – er – nope, I can’t think of anything. The bearings? Even the tyres you might be able to transplant. And if it’s in decent nick you’ll make enough out of it on eBay to finance most if not all of the cost of a new one…

I’d say the way to look at it is this: Throw some money at getting back into RC. If your existing car doesn’t work out, then it’s collectible and not junk enough to get something like a DT03 with minimal extra outlay. It’s a win win! (kinda ;-))

Ordered a Holiday Buggy bundle today. Charmingly retro looks on a more modern 2WD chassis. I might even let the kids have a go once it’s built.

Edit: for the painting-averse it comes with a solid colour shell that you just add bits and stickers to.

I’d love to build that Celica up.

How much are you after for it @wysiwyg?

Crikey that is worth a fair bit of money to a collector!